Baseball Toaster was unplugged on February 4, 2009.
I can't recall the last time I was at the Stadium when things were as relaxed as they were last night. The announced paid attendance was over 52,000, but there were far less who actually turned out to watch the Bombers plow past the hapless D-Rays, 8-4. Truth be told, it wasn't a particularly exciting game. The pace was American League East Sluggish as the starting pitching for both sides was mediocre. However, there were some highlights: Derek Jeter's first inning single, which extended his hitting streak to 22 straight; Robinson Cano's five RBI, and Alex Rodriguez's drive that landed half-way up the black seats in dead center. Rodriguez had three hits on the night, and helped keep a first inning rally moving by taking out shortstop Ben Zobrist with a hard, but clean slide. Jason Giambi had two hits and though Godzilla Matsui went hitless, he just got under a pitch in his first at bat and lined out hard to left later in the game.
The Yankees' magic number was reduced to seven as the Red Sox were blanked in Baltimore last night, 4-0.
Bernie Williams celebrated his 38th birthday from the bench. At one point between innings, the P.A. blared the Beatles tune, "Birthday," and Bernie waved to the crowd. Joel Sherman spoke with Bernabee, who remains a class act:
Williams admits having to battle the dissatisfaction of devolving from star to spectator. "I'd rather be frustrated about not playing, then accept it and then not be ready when playing time comes," Williams said. "The frustration tells me I'm ready and I'll be ready when they need me."..."I'm having a lot of fun, man," Williams said. "I am more mature at accepting administrative decisions. It's not that I lack fire or don't feel frustration at times. But I can accept it and not be subversive about it."
Meanwhile, for the latest on Mariano Rivera, check out Jack Curry's column this morning in the Times.
And for a glimpse of the future, peep Jim Baumbach's piece on the Yankees' top pitching prospect, Phillip Hughes.
A Yanks win or Sawx loss today drops the magic number to 6, meaning Yanks could clinch at home this weekend vs. Boston by taking 3 out of 4! How sweet would that be?
http://tinyurl.com/fqygd
Gotta love it when Boston writers are voting for our boy Jetes.
Furthermore, it also seemed like Abraham hinted that RJ might be starting first and Moose second in the playoffs, or was he just giving an example? Why would RJ be starting Game 1? All the experience?
My favorite giants site is http://www.insidefootball.com/
Why does the catcher always throw the ball to third after a strikeout? It's something that's bothered me for a long time...and don't tell me I have issues, I already know that :-)
"Yankees unfair to worms. Annelids have rights too"
For the record, I think the Pavano humor is still relevant. Although, we might want to be careful not to hurt Carl's feelings, since that is the only thing he has not hurt since he has been a Yankee. Just kidding...
"I appeared to strike a chord in the readership earlier this week by writing the following: "The truth is we need to sit down and figure what sports are all about. We've lost our way."
It was in reference to the Yankees' infamous five-game sweep of the Red Sox, and the need of many, as I saw it, to find someone to blame for all this, rather than to accept it as a pure athletic situation in which one team simply performed better than another over a period, in this case four days."
He goes on for several more paragraphs to describe just how petty and irrational fans can be when their team is going poorly -- it's great stuff.
Of course, having everyone actually catch the ball (at 9 years old) as it's being thrown around is another matter.
16 PETA doesn't care about invertebrates. They might as well change their name to People for the Ethical Treatment of Cute Animals. Dogs/Cats/Baby Seals yes, crabs/worms/insects not so much.
Um, for the sake of pretending to have a baseball discussion: I continue to be amazed by Robby Cano's home run last night. That ball was a foot off the plate away, and down, and he flicked it over the right field wall. Pretty impressive.
Sheffield says he's swinging at 60% of his normal velocity. Torre, who believes the outfielder is close to healthy enough, points out that Sheffield's 60 "is 110% of everybody else."
hilarious.
The post reports that "The more Joe Torre is asked about Hideki Matsui, the more it looks like Matsui will reclaim left field from Melky Cabrera."
Ugh, thats all I have to say. Torre has the golden hance to have Giambi play 1st, Matsui DH, AND get good outfield play from Melky, and he wants to screw that all up. Ugh I say, Ugh...
Second: The Globe had this tidbit: "The Red Sox, who have heard numerous complaints from their players about the schedule this season, prevailed upon the commissioner's office to eliminate one of the four West Coast trips the team had been scheduled to take in the master draft of the 2007 schedule."
Excuse me? How does that work? Talk about whiney!
Here's more from that Aug 25th article:
"Exhibit A would be the night in 2001 when David Cone hooked up with Mike Mussina. For eight innings, the story was this absolutely exhilarating duel between a fine pitcher in the prime of life pitching a superb game (Mussina) and a cagey veteran conjuring up one last flashback effort (Cone). But with the Yankees leading, 1-0, and Mussina having retired the first 26 men he had faced, it became a matter of seeing some history. No true baseball fan wanted to see Carl Everett (ugh) get a hit. A Red Sox victory would have meant nothing in the big scheme of things as opposed to seeing a perfect game. To me, it must start with, and always be about, the baseball, not the blind loyalty to a team. That, I guess, is where I part company with many contemporary Red Sox followers. If that Mussina-Cone matchup had been the seventh game of a playoff series, no, of course not. In that context, you've got to root for the win."
http://cbs.sportsline.com/mlb/story/9659269
(Sorry Cliff the Tiny URL people say theirs wouldn't be any shorter)
I understand some self-righteous blowhard was in here yesterday, using my screen name. I have no idea who it was, but he promises to control himself a little better. At least until it comes time to discuss picking up Sheff's option...
31 I did enjoy that one particular article. I was referring to an incident where on a Boston radio show he said that Joanna Kidd "should be slapped," which was in especially poor taste given the allegations of Jason Kidd's spousal abuse.
32 Gregg Doyle is an idiot, as I know from his many many inane articles about Duke Basketball. He often likes to perpetuate the "truth" about the ref conspiracy that hands Duke all their victories. General rule of thumb, as concluded by posters on DukeBasketballReport: If an article has "Gregg Doyle" in the byline, skip it.
33 Ah, but clearly I was referring to his loss to Baltimore in August, when he allowed only 2 runs, but one of them was unearned (got on base on Bucky Dent's error) and the Yanks lost 2-1. So it should have been at least 25-2, if not 26-2. I know, I know, revisionist thinking. That, or I didn't know until now what your screenname meant...
In 1985 I went to Phil Rizzuto Day, an August game against the White Sox. It was also the day that Tom Seaver got his 300th win - and I was rooting against him all the way.
I'm still amazed that Yaz was able to hit one out against him in the playoff game. He had such a long swing at that stage of his career, and it was lefty-vs-lefty. Didn't influence the outcome much, fortunately!
I wouldn't be a bit surprised if Yaz made the same sort of adjustment.
D. Jeter ss
R. Cano 2b
A. Rodriguez 3b
J. Giambi 1b
J. Posada c
H. Matsui dh
A. Guiel rf
K. Thompson lf
Uh.....why is Bernie leading off?
How about:
Jeter
Cano
A-Rod
Giambi
Posada
Matsui
GOB
Guiel
Thompson
Doesn't that make more sense?
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